What real life skill have you acquired from playing video games?

[χKai]

The more I play Fallout New Vegas, the more I learn how to fix different guns jamming.

 

[LightningmanEXE]

I learned that there is very few things in this world that are objective truths outside of physics. I also learned that most problems for humans are caused by humans, but can also be solved by humans.

 

[Guilherme130]

Being able to understand English

 

[Ian Naxieas]

I've played enough of The Long Dark to be fully prepared to survive in rocky, snowy wilderness with extreme temperatures and no power. I can also survive wolf and bear attacks now!

Seriously though, I can't think of too terribly much video games have taught me. English is my first language and I guess I've learned a few Japanese words from games. Not enough to really call it a skill though.

One that I hadn't thought about until my boyfriend pointed it out is the importance of reading readme files. I learned to dive into readme files pretty early on in life so it's just second nature to me now. It probably seems obvious to nerds like us, but I think 90% of mod/hack/translation/etc questions could be easily answered by just looking at the readme that most come with. :V

I guess history is the last one. It got me interested in Chinese history and it blew my mind when I was fortunate enough to take a trip there and got to see famous landmarks and I remember seeing Guan Yu statues as well! To a lesser extent, the Civilization games taught me about famous structures and such as well as famous natural wonders. Finally, a bit of Japanese history. However I beg you Japan, stop making Oda Nobunaga the villain in things. I'm so sick of seeing his stupid facial hair.

 

[rematche]

limit break. that's why i don't have bullies.

 

[MegaHiro91]

Everyone else has mentioned language. In Denmark we learn English at school at a very early age, and because most videogames and live action movies are kept in English we pretty much learn it like a second native language. When I was about 7 I got my first copy of Pokémon Red... all English, so I had to guess my way through, though it helped that the anime was in Danish so I could connect the dots.

Another thing is orientation. I'm not sure why, but last time I had a friend out on a drive, the way I systematically orientated myself, shifted gears, and weaved in and out of traffic, my friend said "I can feel you're a gamer."

Leaning into my second point, I have a very stressful job where I have to be active and spacially aware all the time. Gaming has taught me to think strategically, logically, and do my tasks in the most efficient order of business. If a new sudden situation arises, I am quick to assert it and plug it into my mental queue.

Growing up with a controller full of buttons that need to be pressed in varies ways and combinations has also trained my "cross motorskills". Like if you have a trashbag in one hand while having to open a lock with the other hand and push down the doorhandle with your knee. Of course you could just put down the bag, unlock and open the door, block it with a foot, and then pick up the bag again... but I like to challenge myself and do stuff the hard way

Oh yeah... and hand-eye coordination.

 

[Yousef]

Bring an intolerable idiot, I’ve arguably even mastered it.

 

[Vicozzy]

A couple years ago, I turned at a stoplight on an icy road a little too fast and did a complete 270 in the opposite direction I wanted to go (it was early morning, nobody was there). So I did what always worked in driving sims and slammed the gas and turned the car hard to the left and did a perfect 180 and went on my way.

Do you have any urge to do it again?
Usually there will be some kind of feeling of wanting to repeat the accomplishment of doing something hard nicely before, isn't it?

Just kidding.

For me, also english, communication to fellow gamers and brain exercise.

 

[RanmyakuIchi]

It sounds silly, but I credit being into Fighting Games with helping me learn how to pick myself up from mistakes or setbacks. To get good at Fighting Games you have to be able to take a savage loss and step back and take an objective look at why you lost without getting your ego or pride twisted up in it, otherwise you stagnate and stop improving.

 

[faceless0man]

minecraft was the reson ı learned english

 

[χKai]

minecraft was the reson ı learned english

Go play it some more!

 

[faceless0man]

Go play it some more!

still do now i play it with my wife

 

[CaptainToad]

How to fit a lot of boxes into a rectangular space and how to fit dishes into a dishwasher optimally, thanks to Tetris and the inventory menu in Resident Evil 4.

 

[NobodyHere]

Language.

Empathy. (Let's just say, being alone when you grow up leaves you "lacking" in certain things.)

Emotional growth. (While yes, it's another word for Empathy, this one specifically refers to recognizing MY emotion and reading other people's emotion.)

Learning basic common sense. (Different parts of the world, have different cultural norm. Learning what's "normal" in other places help me understand other people that comes from different places.)

Strategy. (I usually play games that has RPG mechanics, and next to that was Strategy. I'm not very good at thinking ahead of stuff, still not to this very day in fact, but games like these help me re-arrange my erratic thoughts.)

Anger management. (I've got a lot of thoughts running through my head, and majority of them isn't very positive. The games I've played allows me to relieve my stress while simultaneously taught me to solve problems WITHOUT hitting them first.)

My life, for a lack of a better word to describe it, is pathetic. Despite my current addiction to video games, it was better than the alternative.

And trust me, I've seen the effect it has on other people. I've lived through it myself. It wasn't very nice. Depression is a hell of a mental disease.

I'm not doing optimally, but it's certainly better than before! And I have video games to thank for that. It saved me from boredom, depression and help build me to be the person I am today!

Couldn’t agree more, I was also and still do suffer from loneliness; Gaming to me feels so personal, due to the fact I’m directly interacting with it. They help me understand how useless it is to get mad at failure, gaming makes a safe space to fail because I can always try again without any real world consequences, I never truly hurt anyone.

Games sparked my creativity; As a kid I was almost overwhelmingly inspired , I wanted so bad to make things like the media I consumed. Some of my earliest drawings are of the games I loved so much. I had a book full of Pokémon facts I read so much (also brought it everywhere with me) it fell apart. When I got rpg maker I’d spend hours on it; Playing with all the settings, thinking up (a lot of the time ripping off, but that’s just how it is as a kid) ideas. I still play with it sometimes, I’d like to actually make a complete product one day.

Media literacy; I don’t think I’d love story telling, seeing others perspectives, reading so much if I didn’t have video games. This is going into media in general, but also observing the flaws and successes in the things I love or didn’t so I can learn from them. See how characters are written to inspire me to make more complex diverse characters in my own stories.

They still inspire me of course, they show me how much joy tiny details bring, how breathtakingly beautiful simple crunchy graphics are.

Most recently completion, I’ve always had a problem dropping things, most frequently with videos games because of how hands on they are. But I’ve been pushing myself more to stick to things, get them done, well also not letting that need ruining the joy of what I’m doing.

 

[SeisShooter]

Funny thing is I actually learned to read playing Final Fantasy Tactics when I was a kid. I guess in a more recent-ish turn, I also learned to unfocus my eyes to see the broader area in front of me, scanning for movement and changes, by playing ARMA. Really helped me when I was watching a hundred heart monitors and fall risk patients on security cameras back when I used to work in a hospital.

 

[Prism_Red]

It sounds silly, but I credit being into Fighting Games with helping me learn how to pick myself up from mistakes or setbacks. To get good at Fighting Games you have to be able to take a savage loss and step back and take an objective look at why you lost without getting your ego or pride twisted up in it, otherwise you stagnate and stop improving.

Me too! Ironically, I prefer to play against someone that's fun, I don't really care about winning or losing, it's a competition after all, but fun is fun.

 

[Yukyon]

English, which lead me to my current job

 

[What's His Face]

Driving skills & hand/eye coordination.

I played a ton of Ridge Racer 64 & Mario Kart one night, and the next day when driving along the interstate in the fast lane a bunch of 2x4's flew off a truck in the far right lane as he merged from a freeway entrance...and headed right for me as wooden missiles. My brain was in game-mode still and I was able to dodge each board that had been headed right for MY head:

Slam on brakes board hits pavement in front of me,
Dodge into the left emergency lane and second board hits next to my passenger door,
Gun it and third board bounces off pavement behind me and directly in front of a little sedan...

...causing them to slam on their brakes and cause a pile-up. All while the guy who was a genius in stacking the board over the cab of his truck instead of over his tailgate was pulling off to the right shoulder of the interstate. That day I understood the inspiration for the Final Destination movie franchise.

 

[HawkR]

Wow, a lot of good ones! I guess it all depends on how inclined you are to pull something out of a video game.

Naturally speaking English, I did learn to say arigato (thank you) and konnichiwa (hello) with an accent that impresses the staff at authentic sushi restaurants.

I have a great love of esoterics, and often use games to display ideas. If you're paying attention, Square deals in a lot of what you could call religious philosophy; Sephiroth is named after the fruit of the Tree of Life, for example. You might just call it advanced mythology studies. I like it.

I never got anything practical. The last thing I can think of is EVO The Search for Eden drilling the evolutionary stages into my head.
fish>>ambhibian>>reptile>>dinosaur>>mammal
(Dinosaurs are not reptiles, they're dinosaurs.)

 

[Tbest25]

Thanks to Parasite Eve i know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

 

[MegaHiro91]

How to fit a lot of boxes into a rectangular space and how to fit dishes into a dishwasher optimally, thanks to Tetris and the inventory menu in Resident Evil 4.

This too! I'll argue that Tetris, RE4, and item management in general is what has taught me to efficiently pack a grocery bag. Or anything else where you need to fit x amount of items into x amount of storage.

 

[What's His Face]

Thanks to Parasite Eve i know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

I forgot about this. I once asked my my Biology professor in college about mitochondria, which he was happy to explain, including when it converts glucose into energy (ATP) in each human cell it flares to roughly 50°C (a tad above 140°F).

Then I asked about Spontaneous Human Combustion and how the known most-likely cases of this alleged phenomenon involves people with severe alcohol intake (aka LOTS of glucose in the blood), diabetes, and respiratory issues...and what the likelihood is above 0% that in a perfect storm of too much glucose and a massive stored oxygen release by red blood cells to help process this overabundance due to lack of new oxygen entering the body all at once could result in a part of the body, or the body in full, "catching fire" from the inside in a brief-but-intense flash.

That was the second class I was kicked out of that term and ordered to not return - the first was World History when I asked the professor if we were going to learn what the non-Mediterranean peoples were doing while sitting around with their thumbs up their collective butts waiting for Rome to expand and civilize them.

I did it, and I'm glad I did it. I'd do it again, too.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Helped with english a lot thats for sure

 

[Tbest25]

I forgot about this. I once asked my my Biology professor in college about mitochondria, which he was happy to explain, including when it converts glucose into energy (ATP) in each human cell it flares to roughly 50°C (a tad above 140°F).

Then I asked about Spontaneous Human Combustion and how the known most-likely cases of this alleged phenomenon involves people with severe alcohol intake (aka LOTS of glucose in the blood), diabetes, and respiratory issues...and what the likelihood is above 0% that in a perfect storm of too much glucose and a massive stored oxygen release by red blood cells to help process this overabundance due to lack of new oxygen entering the body all at once could result in a part of the body, or the body in full, "catching fire" from the inside in a brief-but-intense flash.

It's been some since i did the research on the subject. But damn, it's really impressive and scary how this phenomenon it's not so uncommon to happen.

That was the second class I was kicked out of that term and ordered to not return - the first was World History when I asked the professor if we were going to learn what the non-Mediterranean peoples were doing while sitting around with their thumbs up their collective butts waiting for Rome to expand and civilize them.

I did it, and I'm glad I did it. I'd do it again, too.

Lol it's this true? If it is, then you're beyond badass, balls of steel.

 

[Swerve]

Souls series = moment to moment analysis and desicon making during my military career.